Fifty Two Weeks / Luke 20

Great Fun With the Passover Lamb

This chapter takes place during Passover Week. One of the rituals that was to occur during Passover Week was the inspection of the Passover Lamb that was to be sacrificed. It was to be inspected to be certain it was indeed without blemish. Thus, the Jewish leaders who opposed Jesus unwittingly took that task to themselves in this wonderful chapter.

A Question of Authority

First off Jesus is asked straight up by what authority He is ministering. If He says His authority is from God a messy debate can quickly emerge. These leaders have all of the outward symbols of God’s authority and despite the fact that by this time these symbols were essentially masks to hide their wickedness symbols still have great power.

Jesus did not fall into their subtle trap. He asked them a question instead and promised to answer their question if they would answer His. “From where did John the Baptist receive his authority - God or men?” 

Their refusal to answer was politically motivated  but this was no political trick on Jesus’ part. Jesus was never disingenuous. The basis was simply this. If they were unable or unwilling to recognize God’s authority on John there was no point in answering their question. If they were able to recognize God’s authority then He would have answered they truly.

A Prophetic Parable

The Parable of the Tenants is pretty straight forward. God “planted” Israel and those who were entrusted with running things had long been unquestionably wicked. They had beaten and killed the prophets sent to them and they were in it for themselves rather than God.

Now the Owner had sent His Son. They will kill Him. 

The leaders recognized that this had been spoken about them but they did not take it to heart; instead, they fulfilled it. 

Taxes

If they could get Jesus to publicly oppose Caesar they could use the Romans to kill Him. (They ultimately did this anyway even though they had to do some serious Spin Doctoring to accomplish it.) 

There was great public opposition to paying taxes to Caesar. Some opposed it on religious grounds loath to seemingly legitimize the claims to divinity of a pagan ruler by paying him taxes. Others were opposed on purely political grounds. Judea at this time was a hotbed of subversive activity. Others simply didn’t want to pay because of greed. 

Here was an opportunity for Jesus to take a wildly popular public stand, and coincidentally to get into deep serious trouble with the Roman authorities. Jesus’ answer was essentially, “Obey the law but focus on stuff far more important than politics.” (Would that today’s church leaders had such wisdom.)

The Resurrection

The Sadducees came to Jesus next with a rather far fetched scenario involving one of the more arcane points from the Law of Moses. The Sadducees were a powerful group of essentially secular Jews. They practiced many of the public symbols of religious piety but only because this helped them gain more influence. In truth they didn’t believe in the supernatural in general and the resurrection of the dead in particular.

This question wasn’t really about resolving a quandary seeming created by this obscure law. The question was really about whether or not the dead rise. Jesus totally blew them out of the water. 

How many times had they read the account of Moses at the burning bush? Every person of the Jewish faith knew this story. Every person knew that God had identified Himself as I AM but He also declared that He was to be known as The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been “dead” for between 400 and 600 years. God did not say that He used to be the God of these men but that He was their God present tense - I AM. Therefore, they weren’t “dead” to God but very much alive. 

It is fair to say that the Sadducees got schooled.

In Conclusion

Now it is Jesus turn to ask a question unprovoked. “Whose son is the Christ?”

One of the better known titles for Messiah was “Son of David”. This title came from God’s promise to David that he would have a son who would reign forever and whose kingdom would never end. 

People had not really considered the full implications of that title. Jesus points out that David calls the Messiah “Lord”. A “Lord” is over you and ahead of you. A “son” is under you and after you. In order to fulfill this the Messiah would have to be… God and… man? How could that be? 

They were looking at the answer. 

What a wonderful chapter. The Passover Lamb passed with flying colors. 

Jesus leaves us with this wisdom. In sizing up your leaders don’t look at the titles they hold or how nice their clothes are or how great their prayers sound. Look at how they treat the poor.